TL1 Visiting Scientist Working Group

The purpose of this Working Group is to establish a CTSA TL1 Visiting Scientist Program consisting of virtual meetings (Phase 1) between “visiting” TL1 Trainees and their peers and established investigators/lab chiefs/research leaders at other hubs and at the NCATS intramural research program. Once travel is permitted, a hybrid of virtual and in-person visits (Phase 2) will be rolled out. In memory of Dr. Schnaper, we are calling this program the "Schnaper Visiting Scientist" (SVS) program ". There is a lot of diversity in career stages among TL1 scholars in TL1 Training Programs across the CTSA Consortium. The SVS program addresses this diversity by providing three types of forums: The SVS Grand Rounds will serve as a vehicle for senior predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows to present substantial data to a national audience. Trainee meetings will also allow scholars to meet with scientific experts engaged in similar or complementary research at the “hosting” hub, enabling Trainees to expand upon their network. This format most closely resembles the KL2 Visiting Scholars Program and is ideal for trainees searching for their next career step. The SVS Minisymposia provides students and fellows at an earlier stage in their research careers the opportunity to share findings in a shorter format (e.g., 10 trainees @ 10 min talk + 2 min Q&A each). This structure enables a
number of trainees from various institutions to come together over a central topic or theme. The SVS Debate Forum serves trainees who do not have sufficient data to present by offering them the opportunity to practice their presentation skills through a debate forum. Trainees will use the literature to support their arguments in scientific debates on controversial areas of clinical and translational science (e.g., conservative versus aggressive therapeutic approaches for treating specific diseases.) This forum could also be used to debate current questions (e.g. Why do men have more severe COVID-19 than women?). The SVS program will be open to the entire Consortium. These forums will foster continuing exchange of ideas and collaborations among different hubs well
after the events have occurred.